More Shakespearean Biofiction
b"Shakespeare's Birthday Month continues with Part Two with our conversation with Dr Edel Semple from University College in Cork, Ireland, and Dr. Ronan Hatfull from the University of Warwick, talking about Shakespearean Biofiction onstage, screen, and this week on the page, too. We share love for both Hamnet the novel by Maggie O\\u2019Farrell and Hamnet the play (by Irish companies Dead Centre and the Abbey Theatre); brushes with greatness (in the forms of playwright Edward Bond and comedian Eddie Izzard); and we discuss all the big questions:\\xa0how intimidating it can be putting words into Shakespeare\\u2019s mouth; how biofiction can speculate realistically or fantastically about where Shakespeare\\u2019s genius comes from; whether Shakespeare is, in fact, worth it; how Shakespeare compares to Leontes in The Winter's Tale; how we can avoid spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier; what's amazing about Lauren Gunderson\\u2019s The Book of Will; and, amazingly, the good things in Roland Emmerich\\u2019s film Anonymous. (Pictured, clockwise from top left: Laurie Davidson as the title character in the miniseries Will; Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell; Austin Tichenor as Richard Burbage in Lauren Gunderson's\\xa0The Book of Will\\xa0at Northlight Theatre, photo by Liz Lauren; and Kenneth Branagh as William Shakespeare in\\xa0All Is True.) (Length 22:31)"